Korean coins from my wife inherited

I think these are Korean.

 

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@mlov43 what say you? I don't know enough about older Korean coinage.

 

Yes, these are definitely all Korean, with the obverse inscription read (in Korean) as Sang Pyong Tong Bo, which was used from 1633 to 1891. (Korean cash coins used the Chinese characters rather than the Hangul alphabet.) There are roughly a gajillion different varieties, determined by the reverse characters, and these include many different mints and issuing authorities. I have a copy of Mandel's catalog, which is older (1972) but very comprehensive, and I might be able to attribute these given time and encouragement. (I like cookies )

 

Thank you cookie monster! I have more about 50.
Tom

 

Thanks @Parthicus for the info! I am fluent in Korean but my Hanja is mediocre at best.

 

It looks like all your coins are Value 5, from the mint of ChonHwanGuk (Central Government Mint), and issued in 1883. (Type 21 in Mandel's catalogue.) There is also a number at the bottom of each reverse that represents furnace number (these coins were cast rather than struck) from 1-15, and one has a dot under the furnace number. Looks like these are common types, not worth much, but still interesting from a historical perspective. If your others look just like these, they are probably the same, but post them anyway and I can try to ID them too.

 

Neither do I. But they do look like Korean cast coins that I have studied...

 

Here's one that you'll like

 

You’re right, I do
I have a couple of cruddy 5 Fun coins but nothing else.
When I lived in Korea I saw some of these but they were always near other clearly-counterfeit Chinese coins so I never bought any.

Fwiw - yours is a year 2
https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/korea-10-chon-km-1139-2-4-cuid-1132774-duid-1443278

 

Nice set. I'm not familiar with cast coins so I'm not much of a help. These were cast in the 1800s and had pretty sad history behind it.

Good quality copper coins were melted down and recast with cheaper alloy coins. This is course caused the public to be angry and not trust the local currency as mint officers made massive profit out of this. This this is why such coins are very common as well as the varieties out there. That said there may be some scarcer variety.

The 1908 10 chon is a coin struck in Japan at Osaka mint. High mintage number as shown in the NGC site. Common, probably worth 30 dollars give and take

 

Right! It's a matter of grade. But grading is another story, what do I send in for grading or validation of a coin?

 

Some coins came in these. But that doesn't mean much, because I can get old coin flips and do the same!

 

Will do , where shall I send the cookies?

 

These are all of the coins! A lot to go through!

 

It would be so wonderful if someone with the knowledge of most of the coins would come by me NE, Pennsylvania. I would gladly pay them to help me out with the coins! Stay at my place or I'll pay for your motel.

 

That looks like fun

 

More Korean coming soon
Tom

 

You may want to find a way to see if that floppy disk is still readable. It may contain information that could save you a lot of time.

 

That's what I thought but it's only my father in laws company pension plan. I need to destroy it.
Tom

 

Here are more.